


Hanging in the Balance

by Medie



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-17
Updated: 2012-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-29 17:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If they make it through this, it'll be with the kind of experience that makes careers. (missing scene for "The Balance of Terror")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanging in the Balance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [izzyb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzyb/gifts).



_All the soldiers say, it will be alright. We may make it through the war if we make it through the night._

"I'll be on the front lines, Mom," she'd said, standing in her mother's kitchen, her Starfleet enlistment papers on a padd in her hand. "I'll be seeing things no other human being has seen before."

The front lines mean something different now, with the ship playing cat and mouse with a Romulan warship and an all out war their reward if they fail. If the captain fails.

Janice shivers, sloshing hot coffee on her hand. She curses, muttering a colourful phrase she picked up from an Andorian roommate, and sucks at the mark. Dr. McCoy will give her hell for it later, but she doesn't have time to worry. Making coffee isn't exactly in her job description (but James T. Kirk is a fussy thing when it comes to his coffee so, usually, it's just easier to make it than watch the galley staff scramble) but she has to do something while she watches.

This was supposed to be about padding her service record, a year as the captain's yeoman on the Enterprise is worth three years active duty anywhere else, but it's something else now. Or, maybe, this is what it was really supposed to be about all along. Most captains never have to make this call, most captains never have to make decisions on which hangs the lives of billions, but Jim Kirk is. He is and they're all witness to it. If they make it through this, it'll be with the kind of experience that makes careers.

She got what she wanted, a guaranteed pick of assignments and a dozen doors open in her future, but right now she can't care less.

DeSalle sticks his head into the galley and she jumps. He winks and looks at the coffee. "Captain's?"

She nods, "But there's extra."

"You're an _angel_ ," he says, ducking all the way into the room. "How is it up there?"

Needing something to do with her hands, Janice fills the mug for him then one for herself. She realizes when she sips it (black, of course. She used to hate that, but she's forgotten the sugar and cream enough in the last few years that she actually likes it this way now) that she hasn't eaten since breakfast and grabs a data solid for the food slot. "Want something?"

DeSalle's got his hands wrapped around the mug, staring at the coffee like Spock does sensor readings, and it takes him a second to realize she's asked something. "Hm?"

Janice waves the solid at him. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Uh—" DeSalle looks even blanker than before. It's no wonder Dr. McCoy is always such a grouch. The crew's running on stale coffee and half-eaten chicken salad sandwiches and has been for a while with the way the ship's been warping to and from emergency after emergency.

She shakes her head and grabs a solid for him too. Steak sandwich with a side salad. Replicated, yes, but with all the nutrients a growing Starfleet officer will need. "Eat every bite," she warns, when the slot delivers their meals. "You don't know when you'll get a chance to eat again."

He nods. "We'll be fine, Jan. You know how the captain works. He'll pull a miracle out of his pocket."

Maybe, but Janice understands what that means this time. She can see the knowledge written in every line of the captain's face. If they survive, it's going to be because a few hundred Romulans didn't. They're going to have to destroy that ship with all hands aboard. Romulans never once surrendered during the first Earth-Romulan war and Janice doubts they've changed that policy in a hundred years.

"Scuttlebutt is they look like the Vulcans," DeSalle says around a mouthful of sandwich. "True?"

"True," she nods. She's been reading up on the Vulcan Reformation in between trips to the galley, keeping up the captain's paperwork (ship doesn't stop working because the command staff can't leave the bridge and someone needs to approve the next shift rotations) and the thousand other things that fill her day. "They're probably the descendants of some of the rebels that left Vulcan after Surak's teachings took hold." The Science department's been doing cartwheels over the implications." At least someone on the ship isn't bogged down with the idea of a quadrant-wide war. Janice envies them the escape.

"Also heard Styles shot his career in the foot," DeSalle adds. His expression is thunderous and Janice hides a grin. The captain and Mr. Spock might forgive him, but she doesn't think that Lieutenant Styles will last much longer on the Enterprise. This is a ship solidly in love with her command crew. Spock's earned their respect and their admiration. They won't take kindly to someone insulting either one.

Janice nods once. "Something like that." She finishes off her own sandwich in a few quick bites, licking mayo from her finger before adding, "The captain handled it."

DeSalle nods at the implied warning and she relaxes a little, knowing he'll relay that to the crew. Jim has enough on his hands without the crew avenging Spock's honor, even if the idea of Spock as their very own damsel in distress is the first thing that's made Janice really smile since this whole thing started.

She needs to remember that one to share with Christine and Nyota later. They can use a smile too.

Dispensing of her plate and try by shoving it into the food slot to be reabsorbed, Janice goes back to the coffee. The entire bridge crew can use it and she needs to see about getting food brought up there too. No one's going to be taking a meal break anytime soon. If the quadrant's about to blow apart, they want to be there when it does.

"Thanks Jan," DeSalle says, finishing his meal. "Let us know how it goes." He follows her lead and puts his tray back into the food slot before leaving the room. Janice doesn't bother to watch him go, he might see the grim little grin on her face if she does.

Let him know—that's a laugh.

Either way, war or peace, there's no way anyone on the ship will miss it.


End file.
